Meanings
alternative woke-washing
- derogatoryuncountableThe use of social justice in marketing campaigns.
Which means modern brands have started using progressive values as a marketing ploy and are appropriating social activism as a form of advertising. It’s like the “greenwashing” of yore, but on a whole other level. We have, I’m afraid, entered a nauseating new age of woke-washing.
2018 August 10, Arwa Mahdawi, “Woke-washing brands cash in on social justice. It’s lazy and hypocritical”, in The Guardian
Origin
From woke + -wash + -ing. Compare greenwashing.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
wokewashing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wokewashing
“wokewashing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wokewashing. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wokewashing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wokewashing.
Source: wokewashing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.